A Telco Approach to Autonomic Infrastructure Management

“The next thing in technology is not just big but truly huge: the conquest of complexity”, Andreas Kluth, The Economist [7]. The future of the Information Society draws a world where devices with processing capabilities are ubiquously connected to information sources. Due to the diversity of user devices, technologies, communication accesses, etc. operators do really need a technology able to manage such a complex environment giving a service end to end vision. In this sense, the set of technologies that arise from Autonomic Communication appears to be the cornerstone in order to manage the complexity of these new networks and services infrastructure. Competitive market is hard and telecommunication operators must face a double challenge, on one hand they must offer powerful services that must be managed, on the other hand they must address the reduction of service margins. Only really efficient operators will survive in such an environment. The I2OSS (Intelligence to Operational Support Systems) model is thought to provide operators with management infrastructures showing the advantages of Autonomic Communications. The reader will find in this article a technological framework for innovation in the field of Autonomic Communications. The I2OSS model establishes a methodological approach for innovation on OSS (Operation Support Systems) systems that support the management processes of a telco operator. No concrete or specific solutions will be found, but indications on how a telco operator must drive innovation to take advantage of “Autonomic Technologies”.